Nick Dunn is Executive Director of ImaginationLancaster where he is also Professor of Urban Design. He is Associate Director of the Institute for Social Futures, where he also leads research in the Future of Cities and Urbanism. His work responds to the contemporary city as a series of systems, flows and processes, and is explored through experimentation and discourse addressing the nature of urban space: its perception, demarcation and appropriation. His work for the UK Government Office for Science and projects such as the EPSRC-funded Liveable Cities contributes to the wider discourse surrounding the current characteristics and potential future scenarios of the urban landscape in a range of contexts. In particular, he is interested in why and how (maybe even where and when) we design, rather than what we design. He has published numerous books related to architecture and urbanism and his papers have been published and presented internationally and collaborative creative work exhibited across the UK, China and the Ukraine.

Updates and Outcomes

Professor Nick Dunn was recently invited to contribute to the workshop, Future of the workplace and the Government Estate, held in London on 3rd December 2018. The event was run by the Cabinet Office's Open Innovation Team, who help Whitehall departments generate analysis and ideas by deepening collaboration with academics. Nick's involvement forms part of his ongoing work on futures and examining alternatives beyond current path...Read full article

The latest issue of MONU #29 Narrative Urbanism, one of the most innovative and progress publications in its field, features an article co-authored by Nick Dunn and Dan Dubowitz. The abstract for their contribution, Talk on the Wild Side: Moving Beyond Storytelling in Cities is...More information

The sixth edition of Global Strategic Trends: The Future Starts Today, published by the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, describes a future context for defence and security out to 2050. Nick Dunn, Chris Boyko and Serena Pollastri contributed to the report through their research into...More information

As a result of a 3-day Communication Symposium held in March 2017 in Lancaster, Liveable Cities has produced a series of informative videos. Please follow this link to the Liveable Cities official website, where we have all 37 videos available to watch, download and...More information

Nick Dunn's ongoing work exploring spatial practices and cities at night has resulted in a book chapter, 'Night Moves: Dissolving Time and Space in the Nocturnal City', published as part of a new book from the Royal Academy of Arts, Sensing Architecture: Essays on the Nature of Architectural...More information

Nick Dunn invited as keynote speaker at international festival in Brussels.

What might the city look like at the end of the 21st century? In his first keynote presentation,'Futures Past: the art of imagining cities' Nick explored how cities look, feel and operate has long been (and...Read full update

Nick Dunn invited to shape the agenda on research by the European Commission

His presentation, 'Tomorrow's Cities: innovative approaches to tackling social challenges', presented a conceptual framework for understanding future cities and its implications for future policy...Read full update

Nick Dunn invited as plenary speaker at international conference in Wonju.

His presentation, 'Images of Future Cities and UK Foresight Initiatives' explained the role and significance of how visualisations for future cities contribute to society and collective aspirations for better living.
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The exhibition, Loitering With Intent: The Art & Politics of Walking, explores how walking can be a work of art or a political act. Walking is often taken for granted as an everyday activity but it has extraordinary...Read full update

Professor Nick Dunn was recently invited to contribute to the workshop, Future of the workplace and the Government Estate, held in London on 3rd December 2018. The event was run by the Cabinet Office's Open Innovation Team, who help Whitehall departments generate analysis and ideas by deepening collaboration with academics. Nick's involvement forms part of his ongoing work on futures and examining alternatives beyond current path...Read full article

Article published by The Conversation on the relationship between architecture and social behaviours, the importance of failed utopias and lost futures, their legacy and potential implications for contemporary urbanism.
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Design students from Lancaster University are progressing low carbon solutions for a brighter future in Guangzhou, China. Dr Stephen Clune recently facilitated workshops for Masters of Science students in International Innovation to progress research projects that assist UK companies to develop collaborative R&D partnerships with Chinese Organisations.
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Professor Nick Dunn was recently invited to contribute to the cultural platform Izolyatsia in the Ukraine. As part of his involvement with the organisation he co-curated an exhibition, Tomorrow's Cities Today: The Power of Urban Visions which was conceived and created to support the international residency programme Architecture Ukraine 2015 (Mariupol-Kyiv) and explores our visual representation of city design.
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Applications are invited for a full time, fully funded PhD studentship as part of our ongoing research into Urban Futures.
ImaginationLancaster has an extensive portfolio and strong track record of major research into cities, working directly with policy makers and city stakeholders via UK Government Office for Science and the Future Cities Catapult.
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